To make a movie, and we can call it a movie or we can call it a piece of art, to make a movie that has that much mass appeal what it is? What is it that makes kids in China want to see that movie [ 'Avatar'] and makes my dad want to see that movie.

If the reason why you're doing anything creative is to make a living, then you're doing it wrong

Without a goal, you can’t score.

For me, when we came out with a TV show, my HBO show, so much of the feedback was, "How do I do it?" And my response was always the same: "Just make something." Stop talking about it. You do in a way that the work takes on a life of its own. Like the "Signature" series [(2008), in which the artist trekked across the United States in the shape of his own signature] was a simple concept that became this story about the people you met along the way.

We could fly anywhere in the world given that we had to fly coach but we could fly anywhere in the world or do whatever we wanted to do.

One day it was that I wanted to go make a movie with my kid and then another day it was that I wanted to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and another day it was that I wanted to sit in the studio and figure something out. All those things manifested themselves into what the TV show was.

I saw 'Avatar' in the theater eight times and I got booed for it. I'm totally serious. First of all, I love that movie. I totally love that movie, but nothing intrigues me more than the fact that it made like $2.7 billion and so how many people had to see it for it to make that much money.